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History

Established in 1964, Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music has been bringing beautiful chamber concerts to southeastern Nebraska for fifty-four consecutive seasons. We are one of the oldest presenters of chamber music in the country.

The mission of the Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music (LFCM) is to bring chamber music to its members (season ticket holders), their guests, and wider audiences from Lincoln and southeast Nebraska. As a public presenter of chamber music concerts, pre-concert lectures, and master classes, LFCM endeavors to introduce more and more of the public to the experience of hearing chamber music in live performance.

LFCM presents four or five chamber concerts per year. These events regularly feature ensembles of three to eight members from beyond southeast Nebraska; groups from Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and Europe perform on the series frequently. We are proud to offer ensembles of consistently high quality and superior musicality. With respect to repertoire, LFCM is committed to the presentation of new works by living composers, in addition to the standard repertoire of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Early music groups are also represented in our series from time to time, as well as “nontraditional” ensembles such as guitar quartets and cross-over groups. For a detailed look at past concerts and fun facts, consult our publication, Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music: 1965 to 2005—The First Forty Seasons. (Adobe Reader required).

In the area of outreach, LFCM offers discussions of upcoming concerts and the music to be performed on the “Friday Live” series on the Nebraska Public Radio Network. We also provide pre-concert lectures about the music to be performed, and master classes with the artists for students in both high school and college. Representatives of LFCM also visit all of the high school and middle schools in the Lincoln area to present Outstanding Instrumentalist Awards; student recipients receive a certificate of recognition and complimentary tickets.

From 1964 to 2010, our name was Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music. Sheldon Museum of Art director Jorge Daniel Venziano and president Gunter Hofmann drafted an agreement for a closer partnership between the two organizations and we changed our name to Sheldon Friends of Chamber Music to reflect that. Sheldon Museum and SFCM remained separate organizations. In 2015, we returned to our original name.

The LFCM administration consists of a Board of Directors, an Artist/Program Committee, a paid development director, and an accountant. They share the work of selecting performers, producing the program and publicity for each concert, providing transportation, giving pre-concert lectures, assisting at post-concert receptions, and managing budgets. In short, they cover all of the day-to-day operations of an arts organization. The board consists of Robert Kuzelka (president), William Gustafson (treasurer), Gunter Hofmann (website), Kandra Hahn, Liana Sandin, and Sophia Potter (Chair Artists/Program Committee). Our directors are committed to the future of the Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music. They hope to see you at future LFCM concerts!